Wendy Rossotto, you never shut up
by PerriwinklePadfoot
Summary: After the battle,we were trying to make this year as normal as possible, but when we get a new roommate whose been cursed to where she can't speak, and we have to team up with our worst enemy to fix her,well... normals overrated. Minor language, beware!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Guess who's writing another story? ME! So normally this would be the part where I would tell you to read my first story, but actually, don't. It sucks. A lot. But this one is better I swear! **

**P.S. All of these characters are OC's of mine, so be prepared not to know who the heck anybody is. **

**Happy Reading!**

_May I just begin by saying: "oh my god, this is awkward"_

_I mean, just a few months ago I would never of imagined all the stuff that has happened, or that I would even be writing to you. Now I don't even know how to start._

_So I guess I'll just start at the beginning. I'll try to tell the story as best as I can._

Of course this has to start with me in the middle of doing something incredibly stupid.

It was out of pure determination that I was running so fast down the Hogwarts train that foggy September morning. I _had_ to get to the last compartment first. That compartment was our spot; #1 on a long list of traditions. So do you think I was going to let those jerkface Slytherins try and steal it? HA! Over my hexed body!

It was very loud; there were kids and teens of all shapes, sizes, and houses having conversations across the corridor and lugging huge trunks. And apparently my right to run around a train like an idiot as I pleased had been jeopardized by squeaky little first years clogging up the hallway. So I decided to be optimistic I took this as an opportunity to play one of my favorite star-of-term games. "Intimidate the freshman with 5th year intelligence"

Soon I was maneuvering my way through the crowd pretty well by yelling "Shift ye positions insolent swine!" and reciting random transfiguration theroms. I earned a few judgmental looks from some Ravenclaw girls (to whom I stuck my tongue out at) and I looked rather psychotic, but the crowd was evaporating more quickly now.

At least it was until ran straight into a ginger little first year who, in my opinion, greatly resembled a meatloaf. This meatloaf happened to be holding one of the biggest frogs I had ever seen. Like, bigger than my foot (and I wear a 10).

On impact of the collision, the giant toad leaped out of the boy's hand and into a nearby empty compartment. The boy kind of stared at me in shock for a second. Then he noticed his frogs absence and dove into the compartment, shouting, "Mr. Gibler!"

I had every intention of continuing to walk towards the last compartment as planned, but that annoying Hufflepuff conscience of mine told me to go help the little guy locate his freak of nature.

And so, I soon found myself dangling upside down trying to lure the giant frog out from under the seat with a cauldron cake. The meatloaf was lying on the floor, and had stuck his head under the seat to get a better view of the situation. Mr. Gibler croaked.

"Oh, here! I have his favorite!" He said, rummaging through his bag and pulling out a little gold box.

"Chocolate frogs? Isn't that a bit—"

I was interrupted by a mass or frog slapping against my face, causing me to fall on the floor and bang my head on the underside of the seat. I swore loudly which earned me a thoroughly terrified look from the little ginger boy.

"Are you alright?" he squeaked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." I mumbled, rubbing my newly damaged head. "Bloody cannibalistic frog…" The boy gave a nervous smile and ran out of the compartment for dear life.

I swear I was becoming more and more British every day.

My vision was slightly blurred because my contact was having some sort of spasm, but a blue pentagonal shape suddenly caught my eye. I picked it up to see a boy smiling back at me, bright green eyes under circle rimmed glasses and a lightning bolt scar just visible under his messy black hair.

**HARRY POTTER:**

_Also known as "The Boy Who Lived", Harry Potter defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when he was one year old, by the rebounding of an illegal killing curse. He is the only known person to survive a killing curse. _

"Wow this seriously needs to be updated, huh Harry?" I told the card. But the image of Harry was already gone by now.

There were several reasons this card needed to be updated. First, Harry was no longer at Hogwarts. He had been gone for a whole year.

Second, nobody called Voldemort, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" anymore, because no one was afraid anymore. There was no chance of him just randomly showing up and killing everyone you know; He was gone. Deader than a… uh, a dead thing that's dead. We now referred to him as Moldy Voldy.

Third, Harry had recently defeated Voldemort once and for all in the battle of Hogwarts. You'd think they would mention that one right?

I slowly got up and staggered out of the compartment, putting the card in the pocket of my red leather jacket. Too add to my previous irritation, upon entering the corridor I ran into yet another human being.

"Ugh! Would you people watch where your—oh hey Dylan." It turns out this human being was my brother.

Dylan was one of five brothers. Yeah, five! There was Paul, a sophomore in college, and Cody, a senior in high school. Then Dylan, a 6th year at Hogwarts, and me of course, a fifth year. Then the twins Nick and Matthew, they were 3rd years. Paul and Cody weren't wizards.

Usually, when I say Paul and Cody aren't wizards, people ask: "Well aren't they squibs then?" Well sort of, I'm a muggleborn, so I'm not quite sure what to call them. Well my mom's a muggle….I guess they could technically be squibs. Technically. Are you confused yet? We Rossotto's are pretty confusing.

"What's up with you snappy?" He joked. I scowled at him as bunch of giggling 3rd year girls brushed past us. Dylan's fan club.

"Nothing, just come on we have to—"

"We already got the last compartment" he interrupted.

I sighed in relief. "Good."

"Well sort of"

"Huh?"

"Rominger and a bunch of his pet Slytherins are trying to take it, so I came back to get you."

I swore again, and he gave me "the look."

"Wendy…"

"Sorryy" I said rolling my eyes."So, you need my hexing expertise?" I said twirling my wand in my hand.

"Yeah, whatever. Come on!" he grabbed my wrist and dragged me through the corridor, brushing past his little fan club. They nearly fainted, I believe.

Dylan always had at least 3 girls following him around at one time, all who had an incurable and extremely annoying crush on him. I mean, he was good looking and all with his Rossotto light brown hair and dark green eyes, but they acted like he was the most beautiful thing ever to grace the earth. The funny thing was that he _hated_ all the attention.

We finally reached the end of the train to find our usual compartment Slytherin-free.

The only people in the compartment where my best friends Lyla and Caleb. Lyla was sitting in the corner, holding her wand out, staring at it with wide blue eyes in shock. Caleb, who was Lyla's cousin, was standing in front of her and waving his hand in front of her face.

"Where did they go?" Dylan asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

Caleb turned towards us, grinning like he had just been handed a brand new Firebolt Broomstick. "Lyla hexed them!" He beamed. "Oh hey Wendy!" He walked over and gave me a rather painful hug, considering the fact he was almost twice my size.

"Uh-Hey! So who did Lyla hex?" I asked confusedly.

"Rominger! She did a jelly leg curse and his legs got all floppy! It was bloody fantastic! His little group got so scared they ran away like they all saw a boggart! Then I made him promise never to try to steal are compartment again and sent him on his way! He looked so scared! It was great!" Caleb was talking really fast, like he did when he got excited.

"Wait, _Lyla_ hexed him?" I asked incredulously. Lyla was usually too shy to talk to anyone 4 inches taller than her (except Caleb), no less to hex Rominger and scare away a whole flock of Slythijerks.

"Wow!" Dylan said, seeming impressed.

"I know right! She's still kind of in shock I think" He gestured to Lyla, who was still staring at her wand.

I walked over and poked her head. "Lylaaa? It's Wendy!" I said loudly. She snapped out of it and looked up confusedly.

"Oh! Wendy!" She got up and gave me a hug.

"You hexed Rominger! I said excitedly. She covered her face with her hands.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry!" She said, her voice cracking with guilt. "He was just so irritating; I didn't know what I was doing! I didn't mean to… Ugh! I'm such an awful person!" she continued babbling, pacing and running her fingers through her dark brown hair while I tried to calm her down.

"Lyla, Lyla?"

"-I mean I've never used magic _against_ anybody before"

"Lyla? Look, Lyla just chill out"

"This is completely against everything I believe! Do I have right to use magic as a _weapon?_ Absolutely not!" I grabbed her by the wrist.

"Lyla! Shut up!" she stopped talking and I smirked. "Now that's better. It's _okay_ Lyla. That was only self-defense!"

"And totally wicked." Caleb chimed in. Caleb had Lyla's same dark hair, but it was much curlier, and his eyes were dark brown instead of blue. Plus he was flippin' ginormous. He could have easily threw Rominger out the window if he wanted to, but he was too nice for that.

"Well, yeah… I guess." She said hesitantly.

"Plus if you didn't, he would have hexed us all. And we would have a lot more than jelly legs."

Dylan was staring at his feet. Then he sighed and looked up. "You did the right thing Lyla." His voice sounded kind of choked when he said her name.

Why was he acting so awkward? I gave him a questioning look but he just shrugged.

Suddenly, Eddie came bustling into the compartment with his huge battered trunk. "Sup people!" He said heaving his trunk onto the overhead bin.

"Hey Eddie!"

"What's up Ed?"

"Hi Eddie!"

"Hello!"

He gave us all a hug, but stopped at Lyla. "Lyla? Are you alright?"

"She's fine, she's just freaking out because she hexed somebody." I said.

"You did? All right Lyla!" he said enthusiastically, hugging her. She wiggled herself away from and gave him disapproving face.

"Well then." He said, faking offense.

"Well I guess we're all here then." Caleb said, sitting down.

"Wait, where's Abbie?" Dylan asked.

"She's a prefect now, did you get her letter?" Lyla asked. We all nodded.

"Oh yeah I forgot" Dylan said sitting in the corner across from Lyla. I sat beside him and Caleb sat across from me.

"Good for Abigail." Caleb said.

"Or course she's the one to be a prefect." Eddie mumbled, plopping down beside me. Eddie was hilarious and a great friend, but he got jealous pretty easy. He also had quite the temper. Whenever he got really mad I could swear that his unruly muted blonde hair turns somewhat red. And when I say unruly, I mean it. Eddie's hair was all over the place, all the time. But it suited him.

What was I talking about again? …Oh yeah!

"Well you didn't expect any of us to get it, now did you?" Lyla asked.

"Yeah, how many times have we been in detention? Quite a few." I said.

"I'm actually kind of surprised they chose her though, she _did_ help us spray paint the hallways last year." Dylan remembered,

This was the closest we got to mention the previous year all day.

He flinched, realizing he had brought up a touchy subject. Everyone looked down at their feet or out the window. Except for me, I looked up at him and saw him close his eyes and mouth a swearword. I squeezed his hand reassuringly. The poor boy wasn't having a very good day when it came to social skills.

No one mentioned it. No one. We would laugh about the fact that Voldemort was dead, and make jokes about Harry being the next Minister of magic even. But anything else—the murders, the torture, the injuries, the emotional scars that may never fully heal—were off limits in the topics of conversation. But Merlin knows we were all thinking about it, keeping it all inside. I wondered how long it would take for everyone's brains to explode.

The train started moving, and thank goodness Abigail walked in or that awkward silence might _never _have ended.

"Hello!" She beamed. She was sporting her shiny new prefects badge fastened of the knot of her cream-colored scarf. We all stood up and gave her a hug.

"Abigail! How's the new prefect?"

"She's currently making her rounds about the train. I can't stay very long, just wanted to say hello. I'll be back in an hour or so. Oh Eddie, are you _ever _going to get those shoes cleaned properly?" She says, talking way too fast like she always does.

"This dirt represents character! Experience!" Eddie defended his beloved yellow converse. He's always showing his Hufflepuff pride

"And lack of care? Perhaps, laziness?" Abigail suggested.

"Oh you two, stop bickering." Lyla said. It was no use. Abigail was always bickering with somebody.

"Lyla, I heard about your little episode with Mr. Rominger." Abigail said in her gossipy voice.

"Oh God! Are people _talking_ about it?" Lyla squeaked.

"How did people find out?" I asked

"Well when the head jerk of the Slytherins starts flopping all about the train with jelly legs, it gets people talking. Asking questions. Who do they ask? Prefects. I finally got it out of one of his little friends. The poor kid got a right smack across the face from Rominger he did! Everyone's talking about how shy Lyla Underwood put the Super-Snake in his place!" Out of all of us, Abigail had the most obvious British accent. Except me and Dylan didn't have one, of course.

Oh yeah, did I mention we were American?

"Fantastic! My cousin's a celebrity!"

"Told you it was a good thing Lyla." I said, elbowing her.

Abigail checked her expensive watch. "Oh Dear, I've got to go. See you later. And Eddie I want those shoes looking somewhat decent by the time I get back." She gave him the "I'm watching you" sign with two fingers. We all sat back in our usual spots. Except Eddie, who was getting irritated.

"Well how the hell am I supposed do that?" he called after her. She was already down the hall but you could almost feel her confident smirk.

Eddie slammed the compartment door shut and flopped down beside me again.

"So what are our plans for the roof?" Lyla asked

Ah, the roof. #2 on our list of traditions. Every year, since we were 12, we skipped the sorting and snuck a bunch of sweets from the train up to the roof on top of the transfiguration hall. It was about 15 feet up, looking over the main courtyard, leading down to the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut to the left and right in front of you, you can see the lake.

"Same as every year I guess." Dylan says, leaning against the window and staring at the trees passing by.

I was getting pretty tired at that point; I'm pretty sure trains just make me drowsy. I learned my head on Dylan's shoulder, who barley acknowledged me, and watched as Eddie propped is foot on his knee and started rubbing away at the dirt with his thumb.

"You don't actually have to clean your shoes, mate." Caleb said.

He sighed. "Yeah I know." Then he looked up at me and gave me a smirk.

I was the only one who knew that he had a bit of a crush on Abbie.

I woke up confused. I rub my eyes and as my vision comes back into focus, I see Lyla, her back against the window and her legs stretched across Caleb and Abigail's seats, reading a book. Eddie and Caleb had their faces pressed against the window leading into the hallway, apparently waiting for something. I was clutching to Dylan's arm like a teddy bear, as I was known to do with anything within close proximity while I was asleep. I looked up at him, he was in the same position I left him in, staring out the window with that brow-furrowed look of concentration on his face.

"Hey!" I said loudly. He jumped, startled.

"Decided to come back to reality did you?" I laughed. He looked at me and gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh Wendy, your awake. Are you alright?" he was worried, but trying to hide it, using an overly-nonchalant voice. I could tell because I did the same thing. But why was he worried? Was he scared I was going to fall out the window?

"Yeah… I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked skeptically. He shrugged and -looked out the window again. "Are you two looking for Abigail?" Lyla asked.

"Oh God, no" Eddie said.

"Sweet cart of course!" Caleb said. Why wasn't Abigail back yet? I checked Dylan's watch.

"It's almost 2 o'clock where is she?"

"Don't know" Caleb said.

"Don't care" Eddie finished. Caleb gave him a look; that wasn't where he was going with that.

"Oh Wendy, I forgot. I think this demon bird belongs to you." Caleb said lifting a cage from the overhead compartment. My owl.

"Sassafrass!" I said grabbing the cage. "She is _not _a demon!"

"Is too! She tried to bite my head off earlier!" said Eddie.

"That's why you don't try to balance the cage on your head." Lyla said.

"Aw you poor girl." I said stroking her speckled feathers. I could of sworn she was glaring at Eddie.

2 hours later the sweet cart had come, and we had loaded up on all the sweets we could carry for the roof. Abigail arrived just in time to lecture us on cavities. She never fully explained why she was gone so long.

When we arrived at Hogwarts, we snuck through the door on the back of the train. Then we went through the forbidden forest for bit and ended up near Hagrid's hut, where I left him some acid pops at his door. I was always pretty good buddies with him.

After we stopped by the hospital wing to steal some blankets, (Madam Pomfrey was at the feast) we reached the courtyard and began levitating each other onto the roof. Well it was more like Abigail and Dylan levitating everybody, then each other. They were always the best at charms.

It was windy on the flat roof. As we sat around the fire in our usual places, I wrapped my hand around a single, weather beaten shingle, ripped it off, and placed it in my bag. My own tradition.

Lyla was attempting to paint her toe nails bright pink with some muggle nail polish I had given her. She was always fascinated with muggles and their "Behavior" so I always tried to bring her something extra muggle-ish from home. Dylan was beside her, gazing into the fire intently with an acid pop in his mouth. He was still wearing his brow-furrowed face, but he broke his concentration a few times to give Lyla a confused look.

Next came Caleb, who was debating with Eddie about the Quidditch Championships. Abigail was in between them, engrossed in a book, making sarcastic comments about the boys' obnoxiousness every now and then.

I took my usual seat in-between Caleb and Dylan, grabbing my own fluffy purple blanket from the pile. A few seconds later, I had decided that I was far too lazy and exhausted to sit up and lay down on my side, snuggling up with my blanket. My feet were in Caleb's lap and my head was resting on Dylan's leg. Dylan looked down in confusion.

"Shut up, I'm tired." I said before he could protest. Caleb hadn't even noticed.

"The Harpies' chasers make the Rockets' look like injured Hippogriffs." Caleb stated.

"But how much do the chasers really matter when the Rockets have the fastest seeker since Victor Krum?" Eddie retorted.

"I don't understand how you do this, Wendy." Lyla said, frowning at her pink-splattered foot. I kicked off my shoe and wiggled my perfectly painted toes in reply.

"WOAH. Foot!" Caleb exclaimed, finally noticing my foot rather close to his face. He moved about 3 feet back.

_Accio Converse_

My navy blue high-top zoomed into my hand and I shoved it onto my foot. I then did a rather handy shoelace tying charm on it.

"Wow, magic seems to have made you even lazier than you were before." Eddie commented. I threw a fizzing wizzibie at him. "Ow!"

"What flavor do you think this is?" I asked holding up a redish brown flavor bean.

"Hm… brick?" Eddie suggested.

"Leather?" Lyla said.

"Rotting wood?" Dylan guessed.

I bravely popped the flavor bean in my mouth and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Bacon" I said.

"Wow, you're always so lucky with those" Caleb stated.

"This one looks interesting." Abigail said holding up a greenish-yellowish flavor bean.

"I dare you" Eddie said.

"Yeah Abbie, live a little!" Caleb encourages. Dylan then started a chanting of _Abbie, Abbie, Abbie _until she finally shoved the bean into her mouth. She then turned a lovely shade of green and slapped both of her hands over her mouth. Dylan held on to sassafrass' cage.

"Ow!" He yelped a second later, quickly yanking his hand back from the cage and putting his pinky finger in his mouth.

"What happened?" Lyla asked.

"He bit me!" Dylan exclaimed, sounding half amused.

"Sassafrass!" I scolded "That's weird…she's never bitten _Dylan_ before. And it's a _she_ Dylan."

"He's bitten me_…"_ Caleb mumbled.

"Well that's what happens when you try to shove things down its throat." Abigail said, referencing to our 3rd year, when Caleb tried to feed her his failed potions essay.

We returned late as usual. Me, Lyla, and Abigail tiptoed into our dorm so we wouldn't wake our other two roommates, Alice and Jane. I then remembered that Jane's mom wasn't letting her come back this year (still paranoid) as I spotted a head of curly red hair in her usual bed. Must be the new roommate.

I plopped into my four-post bed and stared at Harry's chocolate frog card for a while. The thing I'm sure everyone was thinking about was swirling in my mind.

Were we_ ever _going to talk about it?

**A/N: Well, there you go. Feel free to rate and review! If you hate it, rant on! I could use the advice. If you love it, awesome! Tell the world! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay that took a REALLY long time. Sorry about that! Haha well here's the story anyway:**

My awakening was unpleasant to say the least.

I was in my home in America, in my bed with my blanket. In my big, yellow falling-apart house that had somehow held all 7 of us for years. I could almost hear the sound of the blender down stairs, as mom made our usual morning smoothies; maybe she was inventing a new flavor for the shop. I could almost smell the scent of the 5 different colognes that always drifted throughout the house. Cody's Polo 5... Matthew's Hollister...

Then someone was shaking me; it must have been one of my brothers trying to wake me up. But as I struggled to open my eyes, Abigail's messy blonde hair suddenly swam into focus, and a stinging sensation danced across my face. I realized that I was at Hogwarts, and what I thought was the sound of the squealing blender was the sound of Abigail's voice. In my defense, they sounded rather similar.

"Wendy? Wendy! Dear God, Wendy wake up!"

I blinked confusedly a few times then put my hand on the right side of my face. "Did you just _slap_ me?" I yawned.

"WAKE UP!" Abigail commanded.

"No!" I rolled over and shoved my pillow over my head. I didn't care what time it was, I was determined to sleep for at least another 6 years.

She then proceeded to drag me to the floor by my wrist.

Realizing the situation, I adjusted my ugly, oversized Star Wars t-shirt with as much attitude as I could muster that early in the morning.

"Violence! I accused dramatically.

"Wendy, we've overslept!" she explained

I was much more alert now. "We have? Where's Lyla?"

"Why she's right—LYLA UNDERWOOD!"

"I'm up I'm up!" she said lazily as Abigail beat her with my pillow.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's 8:20! Classes start in 10 minutes!"

"Oh—(I said a word that made Lyla snatch my pillow out of Abigail's hand and throw it at my face)"

"Don't say that!" she insisted.

"Just come on you two!" Abigail commanded.

I don't think we've ever gotten ready so fast. Abigail put her hair up in a simple bun instead of her usual complicated braid. Lyla didn't wear any makeup. (Which she doesn't really need anyway) and I had to wear my big nerdy glasses because I didn't have time to put in my contacts. Trust me, it's difficult to put a straightening charm on your hair and locate your text books at the same time. By the time we got out the door we were still putting on our robes and pushing our books in our bags.

That's when we ran smack-dab into Caleb.

"Caleb?"

"What are you doing here?" Abigail said as we helped Caleb pick up the books that had fallen out of his bag. I was focused on stealing as many of his spell check quills as I could.

"Well, you guys weren't at breakfast, so I brought up your schedules." he smiled.

I found it funny that we didn't even know what class we were rushing to.

"Aw thanks Caleb, that was really sweet of you." Lyla said.

"Yeah thanks." I agreed.

"Where have you guys been?"

"We overslept." Abigail explained.

"Hey we have potions first; I think we can make it!" I said looking over all our schedules.

"Come on let's go!" Abigail said, dragging us out of the room.

6 minutes later we busted through the doors of the dungeon potions room panicking and clutching our books with frantic looks on our faces.

"Ah decided to join us?" Slughorn said.

"Sorry were late Slugy—uh, Proffesor Slughorn." I almost called him Slugy. This was not helping my situation.

"We...overslept..." Lyla breathed.

"Well as I'm sure you three girls know, I do expect all my students to be prompt and prepared for my class."

Wow, those words seriously annoyed me.

"It won't happen again Professor." Abigail assured.

"Promise"

"This is not a class for promising, Miss Rossotto; it is a class for potions."

It took all my strength to refrain from rolling my eyes.

"Yes sir."

"Well sit down, you three. I'll let it slide today, but make sure it doesn't happen again."

We sighed in relief. As I scanned the room for a seat, I realized there were three left. One empty table and one seat next to Jeremy Rominger.

Now I usually try not to directly hate people, but Jeremy Rominger was an exception. Rominger and his little group had always been the main Slytherins in our year, but now that Malfoy had left, he had taken his place as head jerk. He wasn't a Junior Death Eater like Malfoy was, but he was just as unbelievably shallow, patronizing, prejudice, and just all-together awful.

I turned around, and found that Abigail and Lyla had already occupied the empty table.

"_Seriously?"_ I mouthed in disbelief, nodding towards Rominger.

"Sorry." Lyla mouthed back. Abigail looked rather smug. I glared at them and sat down, avoiding the stare of the certain despicable Slytherin beside me.

I suppose we had missed the traditional "Welcome back" speech, because Slughorn continued teaching, apparently going off on some kind of rant on Snargaluff pods.

Then the war began.

"Too bad you didn't get that detention, Rossotto. It would have done you some good. Maybe the Slugster could teach you how to brew an intelligence potion. Those glasses don't make you any smarter, you know." Rominger whispered with that slimy voice of his.

Okay, I know it was wrong. I tried to ignore him and listen to Slughorn, I really did! But my animosity ended up overruling my Hufflepuff conscience, as it often does.

"Oh your here? Funny. I thought you would be recovering from a certain jelly leg curse." I said nonchalantly. The little badger in my head sighed in defeat.

"Your little friend is gonna pay for that you know." he scowled.

"Sudden burst of revenge-fueled aggression, huh? Hm, I seem to have struck a chord." I said thoughtfully.

"You didn't strike anything, mudblood. But you should know your friend has made a big mistake."

I cringed a bit at the word mudblood, I should have been used to it by then but it still bugged me. Mostly because I wasn't even sure if I was one or not.

Suddenly everyone was standing up and walking towards the supply cabinet-y thing. I gave Rominger a glare, then cut through the line forming to catch up with Lyla and Abigail.

"Better watch out Lyla I think Rominger's mad at you."

She nearly jumped 6 feet in the air.

"God Wendy, you scared me!"

"What do you mean mad?" Abigail asked

"He's all jacked up about Lyla hexing him. It's rather fun to watch actually."

"Oh dear, maybe I should apologize." she said.

"No!" me and Abigail said incredulously.

"You don't apologize for hexing someone, Lyla."

"That's like apologizing to someone for beating them at a Quidditich match." I said. We got to the storage cabinet and I realized I had no idea what I was supposed to be getting. "Wait, what potion are we doing?"

I soon found myself stirring the beginnings of a sleeping potion, and looking over at Rominger's quite frequently.

It was a competition, this I decided very quickly, and I was determined to win. I_ would_ remain one step ahead if Rominger! I _would_ finish my potion first! I'd make a sleeping potion so freaking fantastic that nobody with in a 5 mile radius would hold on to their consciousness!

Now that I'm reviewing my past ambitions, I'm beginning to question my sanity a bit...

"Hey Rossotto, are we supposed to stir this counter— Oh wait, your just a stupid Hufflepuff" He smirked.

"And your just a bratty Slytherin, besides, you don't stir counter clockwise until step 15 genius" I replied, stirring my potion fervently.

"I know."

"_Sure_ you do."

"Stop talking to me, _mudblood_."

"Stop replying, _pureblood_."

"You've got pureblood friends, you know. You say it as if it's a bad thing."

"It is when it makes you a stuck-up jerk; you get that from your dad, huh?"

"A 'jerk' am I? Better than being stupid. And coming from a stupid, filthy muggle family."

"You come from a bunch of cheating snakes."

"That eat mudbloods for breakfast!"

"Dear God, Rominger! You think you're so cool with your heritage and your loose tie and your 'mud blood' references. But you're just a pathetic little boy."

"And you're a pathetic little Hufflepuff. A _stupid_ little girl, from a _stupid_ country with a _stupid_ family and a _stupid_ name!"

"How is my name stupid?"

"Really, if you're gonna run off with Peter Pan, do it all ready! We won't be missing you!"

"Jealous much?"

"Ha! Of a mudblood? Please!"

"Look Rominger, I'm trying really hard not to shove your face into your cauldron right now. So if you know what's good for you I suggest you shut that bratty little snake mouth of yours, got it?"

"Whatever. I'm done talking to you. I need to focus on making my potion thank you very much. But tell me if you need any help, these are pretty big words for a Hufflepuff." he smirked.

I took a deep breath. I counted to three. And I let him win.

_That_ time.

And somehow I quietly continued my work, my head bubbling with vicious words against the boy standing next to me.

But 10 minutes later, I was thoroughly lost. I was so distracted with insulting Rominger, that I had lost track of what steps I had done and which ones I hadn't. My potion looked like sludgy cough medicine and smelt like nail polish remover.

"Are we having trouble, Rossotto?" Rominger smirked.

"No." I lied.

"Aw, did the ickle Hufflepuff not understand the smart people words?"

"I understood them just fine, thank you. I just _don't_ understand when we're ever going to use this (insert profanity here)! I mean if something treacherous is attacking us what are we gonna do? Brew up a potion and _sleep_ them to death?"

Rominger seemed to be glaring in Lyla's direction. "Actually that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I might just have to use that on that little friend of yours." he mumbled.

And there, he had crossed the line, and he promptly received a slap in the face.

"Ow! What the bloody hell was that for?" he exclaimed.

"Don't even joke about that Rominger. That girl is my best friend and if you even try to hurt her you'll be hearing from all five of us. Especially Caleb." I had to throw Caleb in there, he was the only one Rominger was actually afraid of. He was in shock for a bit, but then quickly regained his Slytherin composure.

"Whatever." he said lamely.

I looked back to see Rominger's current girlfriend and second in command, Rachel O'Harring, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She no doubt had just seen me slap her precious boyfriend and was itching to come rescue him.

I was pretty sure my Hufflepuff conscience had curled up and died by then. I was so mad, the Balthazar twig in my hand almost snapped in half.

And just let me say, I'm not proud of this next part.

I had to find something, _anything _really, to show him that I meant business. I wasn't going to let him do something to Lyla. And as I looked over at his perfect, creamy, lavender-scented potion, I knew how to make him regret calling me a mudblood.

I flipped through the pages of my book and there it was.

"WARNING: do NOT add any part of a snargaluff plant to this brew, results could be disastrous and cauldron may combust."

Combust? What the hell did that mean? Wow I really was a Hufflepuff.

Nether the less, I faked forgetting an ingredient and walked innocently to the supply cabinet. Rachel was already there, searching for something to make her potion look the color it was supposed to. She glared at me and I was sure to squirt some Snargaluff juice on her as I grabbed a pod from the top shelf.

When I got back to my seat, I waited until Rominger finally looked up from his potion. I then dropped the pod in his cauldron as conspicuously as I could.

But nothing happened.

I waited for five minutes but no "combusting" occurred. And to be honest, I was kind of disappointed.

Okay, really disappointed.

The suddenly, Rominger's potion turned highlighter yellow, and I grinned.

"What the hell?" he said taking a step back. I grabbed my books and ducked under the table and then...

It exploded.

A chorus of squeals and "Blimey!" and "What happened?" and "Merlin's Beard!" and "What _is_ that stuff?" echoed throughout the room.

"Baby are you okay?" I heard Rachel's frantic voice say in the back.

I looked up and saw that the pudding-like substance was everywhere. It was all over the desk, both our cauldrons, the floor, and to my amusement, Rominger.

"If everybody would PLEASE calm down! Mr. Rominger, would you _please_ explain what's happened here?" Slughorn's said overruling all the frantic voices.

"I...I dunno it just..." He made a pathetic gesture of an explosion, complete with sound effects, while still staring at his cauldron.

And I was trying _very_ hard not to laugh.

"Well let's see here... It was obviously a Snargaluff plant." he said, inspecting the cauldron. "Perhaps you put some in by mistake?"

"N-no it was fine, my potion was p-perfect! I don't know...YOU!" he said pointing at me.

"What about me?"

"You put th-the snargle-whatever in my cauldron!"

Crap.

"I did not!"

"Mr. Rominger, do you have any proof?" Slughorn asked.

"I know it was her! She hates me! She got her little friend to—well, I promise it was Rossotto!" he said, obviously not wanting to admit he got hexed by a Hufflepuff.

"She got what?" Slughorn asked.

"Underwood hexed him! Rossotto's friend underwood gave him jelly legs on the train yesterday!" one of the Hufflepuff boys shouted.

The whole room erupted in a classic "oooohhhh!" Lyla was blushing her head off and Abigail laughed out loud.

"Shut UP!" Rominger directed at the Hufflepuff.

"Now that's enough. Mr. Rominger if you have no basis on your accusations against Miss Rossotto I simply have no means to punish her."

_"Rachel!"_ said a voice in the back of the room. All the heads in the room turned to Eddie, who was standing In front of Rachel's seat with an appalled look on his face. "I know you and Jeremy are fighting, but I never thought you would stoop this low!"

"Eddie?" I asked.

"What are you going on about?" Rachel asked, annoyed.

"Mr. Taylor, can you explain yourself?" Slughorn asked, growing impatient.

"Now Professor Slughorn, I never thought I would live to see the day where Rachel O'Harring would act on a petty grudge, but Lo and Behold we have the evidence right here! Do you see what's on her arm?" he said, gesturing dramatically.

"I don't know what he's talking about." she laughed. Wow she had an annoying laugh.

Slughorn made his way to the back of the room and inspected her sleeve.

"Well this does appear to be the juice of a Snargaluff pod." Slughorn said.

"I didn't blow up his potion!" she said incredulously. "He's my _boyfriend!_"

"Not for looong." Eddie singsonged under his breath. He earned a glare from Rachel.

"I'm sorry Miss O'Harring but the evidence is clear, I'm afraid I'll have to give you a detention."

"But I didn't—"

"And I regretfully have to take 10 points from Slytherin." he said. The green half of the room groaned.

"This isn't fair!" she declared.

"Well Rachel, if you can't do the time then don't—"

"Shut it Taylor." she snapped.

"And now I'd like to continue teaching if I may. You may present your cauldrons carefully to the front of the class."

Everybody got up, carrying there cauldrons and chatting excitedly.

"You're going to pay for that _Rossotto_." Rominger hissed.

"For what?" I asked innocently. "I haven't done anything."

And before we knew it class was over.

As soon as I was out of the classroom, I searched for Eddie. When I spotted him I ran and attacked him from the side with a spine breaking hug.

"Whoa! Okay, what's going on here?" he laughed putting his arm around me.

"Thank you _so_ much I owe you big time!" I said.

"Oh yeah I really saved your ass there didn't I?"

The other two caught up just in time for Lyla to hit Eddie in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Don't say that."

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Yes, mum." he said under his breath.

"Wendy was that you?" Abigail asked.

"...maybe"

"_You_ blew up Rominger's potion?" Lyla whispered. "Wendy that's awful!"

"He deserved it!"

"And I saved her." Eddie smirked.

"How did you know it was Wendy?" Abigail asked him.

"Well she was sitting right by him, and judging by the way she slapped him I assumed she was pretty mad. And the Snake Queen was complaining about you getting Snargaluff all over her at the supplies cabinet."

"You slapped him? Nice touch" Abigail said high fiving me. "And that was a pretty impressive little show you put on their Edward"

"Wendy you could have gotten caught! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I could get back at Rominger for what he said."

"What DID he say Wendy?" Eddie asked.

"Well... He called me a ... Well, a mudblood. And he called me stupid for being a Hufflepuff. Then he threatened to do something to Lyla for her hexing him."

"Oh no." Lyla squeaked.

"I was just making sure he knew not to mess with us." I explained.

"Well, it was a good move" Eddie said.

"Totally" Abigail agreed.

As we reached the Transfiguration hallway, Abigail and Eddie went down a different Hallway for Charms, and Lyla and I planned to meet Caleb in Herbology. We passed McGonagall's classroom, I had a sense of _De Ja Vu_ as I saw a flash of curly red hair. The same curly red hair that was asleep in Jane's bed the night before.

Our new roommate.

"Hey Lyla, have you met our new roommate yet?"

"The ginger? No, I saw her last night but I haven't had time to talk to her yet."

"Yeah me either"

"We can find her at lunch and ask her to sit with us."

"Yeah sure, do you know why she's here?" I asked.

"Well I assume she's here to learn magic."

"But why did she start going here in her fifth year? Is she a transfer?"

Lyla shrugged. "Who knows? Just don't prod her too much. Let her get used to her first and we'll find out eventually.

But as I soon found out, patience was not my strongest suit.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Next chapter should be up soon! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

You know how when you're really tired and everything suddenly becomes ridiculously hilarious? Like, Every. Single. Freaking. Thing.

"I'm really tired. This bed is comfy. Four post. Why do they call it a four post bed? Well it DOES have four post... I suppose that makes sense. Hey there's my sock monkey. Where did I get that again? Oh yeah, Paul. My brother Paul. He likes kiwi smoothies and indie music. He's getting married. His girlfriend has a big nose...hehe. Ohmygosh! New Roommate! There she is. Just chilling. Her hair is really red. Hm... The ceiling seems rather bland. I should decorate it"

And this is how I ended up climbing my bed post with my emergency box of crayons at 5:30 in the morning. Remind me never to wake up early again.

Just as I finished my elaborate crayon drawing of a purple giraffe, the red head in the bed beside me began to move. I literally leaped onto my bed at that point, ducking under the covers as fast as I could. Abigail and Lyla were both heavy sleepers, thank goodness, but apparently my new Roomate wasn't.

She turned around quickly and scanned the room. I watched her from under my covers, and this is the first glimpse I ever really got of her face.

The startled look she was wearing didn't compliment her much, but she seemed to have a fairly decent appearance. She had quite a lot of freckles and her eyes were blue and apparent, noticing everything. Except me. Thank God.

She DID see my giraffe though, and she looked rather confused. Not the best first impression.

Soon she shook it off, got up, gathered her things and walked towards the bathrooms. Why was she leaving so early? What was she hiding? Soon I couldn't control my curiosity; I was going to follow her.

Wait, no I wasn't. That would be ridiculous! She would think I was some kind of creep! She already thinks I'm mental because of my giraffe... And what happened the last time I snuck out? Snape happened! That's what!

"Miss Rossotto, would you care to explain what you're doing roaming the halls after hours?" he had hissed.

Unfortunately I was still in my delirious sleepy mode.

"Well, you see Mr. Snapedy-Snape, It's like, 5-something right? So I don't really see this as after hours, more like... _before_ hours. There's no rule against that is there?"

I received quite a lot if detention for that.

And so, with that little episode in mind, I was sure not to actually go out the Hufflepuff portrait hole. That was okay right? Instead, I crept as stealthily as possible into the common room, sat on the couch, and waited.

I wasn't quite sure what I was waiting for. Did I just want my new Roomate to fall from the sky and introduce herself? Maybe I would tell her off for being so mysterious. Maybe I was just way too curious for my own good.

As I sat there, I properly examined the Hufflepuff common room for the first time since my first year. The yellow wallpaper, the fat arm chairs where we played truth or dare and pretended o do homework, the yellow hangings on the walls. The room was a bit claustrophobic for me, since it was in the basement, but it was my second home. It had little underground tunnels leading to the dormitories, all of which had perfectly round doors. I guess we really were badgers.

That's something I've always wondered about. Gryfindor's crest was a lion, which made sense because lions are all brave and junk. Then Slytherins are snakes, naturally. And Ravenclaws were ravens of course, which are supposedly a very intelligent bird.

Then why on earth were Hufflepuffs badgers? I mean, of all the animals in the world, badgers?

"Wendy?"

I jumped, turned around to meet my addresser and found my brother, all dressed and ready to go.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"What are YOU doing here?"

"I woke up early."

"Well so did I."

A fine awkward silence followed.

You know what he was probably doing? He was probably looking for a nice window to stare out of and sigh dramatically. I swear, that boy had been so... Agsty lately! He hadn't been talking much at all, and when he WAS he was snapping at people. He had nearly made Lyla cry the day before.

"Soo... Why are YOU up early?" I asked, trying to sound as un-irritated as possible.

"Couldn't sleep." he explained.

How vague, the jerk.

"Oh."

"How about you?"

"Stalking my new roommate, who for some reason refuses to introduce herself." I said truthfully.

"Ah. That's fun."

"You haven't seen a red head come in here have you? Short, real freckly?"

"Not that I remember, but I just got here." Of course you did.

"Oh."

"So why are you stalking her?"

"Well I just haven't met her yet and she's never in the room. She leaves super early and gets back super late. Its like she's avoiding us!"

"Maybe she's shy. I mean, no offense but you guys are pretty intimidating."

Um... Offended!

"We are not!"

"Not like, scary or anything. You guys just aren't the most inclusive group in the world."

"Well we would be if she TALKED to us."

"Well just go easy on her, she'll come out of her shell soon enough."

"I don't know it took Lyla about a year" I laughed. Dylan sighed and looked at the ceiling.

What was that boy's freaking problem?

"Well anyway...do you know when it's legal for us to leave?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Like, when is it not after hours anymore."

"Oh, that's at 6:00"

I checked his muggle watch mom got him for his birthday.

"Well its past six, lets go."

And so we ended up walking to breakfast at 6:00 in the morning.

The sun was just rising, yawning and stretching its arms over Hogwarts for a new day. The halls were barley illuminated, and the sun painted defined shadows on the west side of the castle. And Dylan was still being stupid.

"I've never been up when the sun was rising like this." I said, trying to relieve any tension I had imagined. "Last time I was outside the common room at this time was in 3rd year when me, Abigail, and Lyla—"

And here comes the dramatic sigh. I stopped walking.

I'de had enough.

"Alright, enough of this nonsense! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I MEAN with how you've been acting lately! Your all breathe-y and zoned out, and, and every time I mention Lyla you act your about to throw up!"

"Well-"

"I don't know what kind of stupid teenage boy phase your going though but that gives you NO right to run around angsting the fun out of everything! And what is your deal with Lyla She's one of your best friends and your treating her like a blast ended skrewt!" By this point I was pacing in circles and running my fingers frantically through my blond-ish hair.

"Well I mean—"

"Could you just stop acting like such a—"

"Like a what?" he challenged, getting offended.

And I went into a rather detailed, profanity- laden description of what a douche-bag Dylan had proved to be lately. Not just at school, but all summer. He had been in a constant bad mood and it was getting annoying.

He just stood there and stared at me for a few seconds, then he laughed.

He laughed. He LAUGHED. He had the audacity to LAUGH when I was in mid-off-telling!

But I soon realized that it wasn't a happy laugh, more like a sardonic, bitterly sarcastic laugh.

"Your right. I knew I couldn't keep this from you forever."

What? This was new. Dylan was admitting he was wrong?

"Keep what?"

Cue the Dylan-sigh.

"It's about last year... When, you know..."

"Yeah know, last year when Voldemort went all crazy. Nice to know somebody remembers."

"I know right? Why hasn't anyone said anything?"

"I don't know it's like some kind of cursed topic! Wait... We're getting off track here..."

And there's the Rossotto ADD for you.

"Oh yeah, right."

"Continue." I said curiously.

"Well last year... Durning the battle...near the end...

"Yeah?"

"I just sort of... Realized some things."

"Dear God, Dylan. Skip the dramatics! You sound like Abigail."

"Fine. During the battle, I almost died." He then sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall of the corridor.

My breathing stopped for a moment. I stood there, imagining my brother, my best friend, Dylan. Dead, not breathing, unresponsive.

And it was horrible.

He seemed pretty torn up about this, so I decided to lay off on the lecturing for a bit. Instead I sat down in front of him, crossing my legs and staring at him intently.

"But I didn't. Because of Lyla" he sighed. He does an awful lot of that.

"Elaborate..."

"Okay, well you know how I hurt my leg really bad near the end. I was wobbling around, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. Then this death eater appeared out of nowhere and shot a curse at the wall behind me. It collapsed on top of me, and I was knocked out.

"When I woke up, I thought I was dead. But Lyla found me. She dragged me from under all the debree and wrapped up my leg with her sleeve. I... I wanted to die. I mean I regret thinking that now, but it hurt so bad... I was just ready to give up." he chuckled a little bit. "But Lyla wouldn't let me. She kept me talking, she even slapped me once. She's really the only reason I'm alive.

"But by the time I was even able to stand, another death eater showed up. And he was seriously jacked up. He was flinging killing curses left and right. And... Look, he was gonna kill us Wendy. It was only self defense."

"Oh God, what did you do?" I asked.

"Not me, Lyla. She... She killed him. She's never killed ANYBODY before... And she killed him...for me."

This did not compute. Lyla Underwood. Harming another human being? The first thing that came to mind was the train ride, where she hexed Rominger. But that was a one time thing. Lyla was always insisting we do what's right, not letting us curse, never participating in any of our pranks. It was the way she was raised. She must have felt horrible.

"So why are YOU flipping out about it?"

"Because... She shouldn't of had to! I just hate that all of this ever happened! The whole thing didn't really hit me until Lyla Underwood resorted to murder. She has always been so sweet and innocent and kind. The old Lyla probably would have just given him a hug or something!"

"The old Lyla?"

"She's changed! The battle changed everybody, and... I just want _my_ Lyla back..."

"But you _know_ it wasn't your fault right?"

"I know…it just hurts every time I look at her… cause I know she's never gonna really be the same again."

Okay, now it was hug time. The poor boy was so confused.

"You think too much." I stated as he clanged to me for dear life. "You need a break."

"Yeah... I guess."

And that's how we ended up shooting spit balls at students from the legendary rooftop until 7:00, aiming mostly at Slytheirns. A fine therapy treatment, if you ask me.

"I want MY Lyla back" he had said. He had said it so... I don't know, desperately. And I couldn't help but wonder... What was really going on with those two?

**Well there it is! Haha this chapter starts to get a bit dark... Well not DARK. It just kinda shows what everybody has been through the previous year. And Dylan's story DEFINETLY isn't over yet ;)**

**Thanks so much again, and please let me know if it's getting too dramatic... I still want this to be a humorous friendship story! Haha. And BTW, Reviews would be lovely ;)**


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